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It took me forever to find it. I do not know Mr. Elliot nor do we attend QA but I HAVE personally witnessed the capricious firing of at least 3 excellent teachers and principals in the last 10 years because they put good curriculum and consistent learning above the ever-changing bureaucratic experiments of the central district administration. SPS parents have to make it clear that retaliation for standing up for our kids' education will no longer be tolerated.

On the surface this sounds like a solution to education budget woes. However, the decision-makers (working in their usual silos) failed to consider the archival requirements and costs associated with this action.

To me, the juxtaposition of the Onion story and the David Elliot saga is telling.

I went to a great elementary school long ago in flyover country, in a state which ranked 48th in per-pupil expenditure on public schools. The school didn't have a playground, or even grass. At recess, we played kickball or smear the homophobe on mowed weeds left over from when the school yard was a farm. The school had no art teacher, no music teacher, no PE teacher, no art supplies, and needless to say no iPads. Class sizes were a touch larger than the contractual limit in Seattle today. We hardly knew who the principal was, and when you found out, it was not in happy circumstances. I got a better education there than my child gets in Seattle now, and not by a small margin. The difference has nothing to do with funding.

Seattle schools might be better with an immediate 10% funding cut, or more. Then maybe they couldn't afford centralization; high-paid bureaucrats to crack the whip and enforce sameness on the schools; an endless parade of expensive new curricula and standards; endless task forces on social engineering and political correctness. Cut the budget until they can't afford anything but teachers in classrooms teaching according to their own preference, and enough rope in each school to deal with any principal who gets too "imperial."

Such a great post, Outsider. As I left the workroom yesterday, I looked for a few seconds at something I've seen far too much off. Another adoption of books K-5 in beautiful condition still making their way to surplus. The money spent on curricula would be unbelievable if people really knew about it. Hardly used because we keep changing reading models. I've read every five years? Who put that rule in place. Same with math and social studies. I watched Storypath and Houghton Mifflen go out the door over the summer. I like Storypath, Houghton Mifflin not so much. Still, buy it one year and send it out three-to-five years later. Why? Oh my god, they have too much money down there. We would be better if we were smaller and poorer. We'd use our money so much better!

I began teaching 7th grade everything in a small Catholic school in Idaho (It was 3 times the size of the really really small public school). Very little money and wheat at really low prices $1.25 a bushel (It went to $5+ a bushel 6 years later)I taught 21 seventh graders and was with them every minute of the day from 8AM to 3PM.

I went to the local high school to find surplus math books that might be better for my 7th grade class than Sadlier math. I found Hart Algebra I copyright 1946 (It was 1968).

Those 22 year-old books were excellent.. clear examples and excellent problem sets. No worry about covering standards as we were learning math at a rate that students could comprehend, with scaffolding and back-filling along the way. It was just me and the kids. Some were in the Algebra book and some not (it must have been ability grouping - but there was lots of time for math). [[Slightly more than half finished the entire algebra book by the end of 8th grade and learned other math topics as well]]

I thought about how leaving this really rural school for a district with more resources, which I believed would provide me with support for better instruction. Oh was I naive.

Larger districts often require lots of counterproductive nonsense that has little to do with improved instruction.

Professional Learning Community -- really - where would I find one of those? I see mostly top-down edict delivery mechanisms... orchestrated by those who know little about how students successfully learn math over a k-12 career.

A learning community is what the kids and I had in Idaho.

Today, for teachers more reading of stuff that largely misses the mark is required. The Danielson Framework is way more work than it is worth for this teacher.

I visited with one of those original 7th graders in 2007 and learned that he knew I really cared about him and trusted that his teacher (me), parents, and community would direct him in positive directions. He did what he was told because he trusted us (the adults). Sorry but I do not have Joe's same confidence in the Seattle Public Schools leadership.

Like "n" wrote: "Oh my god, they have too much money down there. We would be better if we were smaller and poorer. We'd use our money so much better!"

Education Acroynms

Advanced Learning - SPS' three-tier program for advanced learners. Made up of APP, Spectrum and ALOs. (Note: the name of the district program is "Advanced Learning Services and Programs" but these three programs fall under "Highly Capable Services" of AL Services and Programs.

ALO - Advanced Learning Opportunity, the third tier of SPS' Advanced Learning program

AP - Advanced Placement. A national program of college-level classes given in high schools.

APP - Accelerated Progress Program. One of the levels of the Advanced Learning Program. NOTE: the name of this program is now "HIGHLY CAPABLE COHORT." This change occurred in 2014.

ASB - Associated Student Body. High school leadership groups.

AYP - Adequate Yearly Progress. Part of NCLB.

BEX - Building Excellence. SPS' capital renovation/rebuilding program that is funded via the BEX levy. Every 3 years there is the Operations levy and either the BEX or BTA levies as those two levies rotate in six year cycles).

BLT - Building Leadership Team. Staff members at a school who meet regularly to discuss building issues.

BTA - Buildings, Technology, Academics. The major maintenance/other capital fund for SPS. Originally BTA was to cover major maintenance like HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), roofs, waterlines, etc.) but now covers wide swaths of items like athletic fields, technology and funding academic needs.

CAICEE - Community Advisory Committee for Investing in Educational Excellence. Created by former Superintendent Manhas in 2008, to issue a report about reform recommendations for SPS.

CSIP - Continuous School Improvement Plan, the plan for improvement for each school as required by state law.

EOC - End of Course Assessments, given in math and science, required for high school graduationESEA - Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the federal law that governs education, includes the NCLB accountability provisions.

e-STEM or e-STEAM - STEM or STEAM curriculum with an environmental focus.

FACMAC - Facilities and Capacity Management Advisory Committee. A district committee comprises of an all-volunteer citizen group created in 2012 to help bring research and ideas to capacity management issues in the district.

FERPA - Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. A federal law that protects students' privacy

FRL - Free and reduced lunch.

FTE - Full Time Equivalent

FY - Fiscal Year

Highly Capable Services - NEW name (as of 2014) as umbrella name for these programs: Highly Capable Cohort (formerly APP), Spectrum and ALO (Advanced Learning Opportunities).

HSPE - High School Proficiency Exam, state assessment that replaced the WASL for 10th graders, required for graduation

HQT - Highly Qualified Teacher, a standard set by federal law

IA - Instructional Assistant

IB - International Baccalaureate program. An international program of advanced classes that can either be taken as stand alone or as part of an overall IB program.

IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The federal law that governs special education

MAP - Measures of Academic Progress. A computer-based adaptive assessment made by NWEA and originally purchased by the district for use as a district-wide formative assessment but now used for a wide variety of purposes.

MSP - Measurement of Student Progress, the state proficiency assessment that replaced the WASL for students in grades 1-8

MTSS - Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

NCLB - No Child Left Behind, a provision of the federal education law, ESEA, introduced during the George W. Bush administration